Chamber and committees

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water, and I have asked the Chief Executive to respond. His response is as follows:Any delay in the approvals process will have an adverse financial impact on the Katrine water Project.Planning was submitted to East Dunbartonshire Council in November and the statutory approval/decision period is four months, i.e. until mid-March 2002. Thereafter there is a 28-day period for Scottish ministers to give listed building approval bringing us to mid-April. A delay of greater than four to six weeks will inconvenience the excavation operations which rely on better weather for their efficiency. This means that more muck would be shifted in the winter months resulting in increased operation times and costs.Should a planning inquiry be deemed necessary, the consequent delays and costs are a larger order of magnitude. Our best advice is that an inquiry cannot be carried out in less than one year and is more likely to take 18 to 24 months. Direct costs of such an enquiry could easily be in the order of £2.5 to £3 million. Consequential increased construction costs resulting from the delay could bring this figure up to £10 million.

I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-22387 (8 February 2002), S1W-22134 (5 February 2002), S1W-22133 (5 February 2002), S1W-22086 (4 February 2002) and S1W-22155 (11 February 2002).

Following from the work of the joint "It Pays to Pay" Working Group, we have introduced legislative changes to allow all councils to start collecting council tax earlier and to take action more quickly when people fall into arrears. Good practice guidance has also been issued on council tax billing and collection arrangements.

The Executive will assist the development of the credit union movement in Scotland through the implementation of the action plan "Unlocking the Potential". £1.5 million of new resources are available over this and the next two years to help implement the plan. To help credit unions meet the Financial Services Authority's new regulatory changes (coming into effect on 1 July), every credit union in Scotland has been offered free compliance training.

This is a matter for West Of Scotland Water. The Chief Executive's response is as follows:In their tender returns to West of Scotland Water, none of the bidders made any specific proposals to construct a water treatment plant at Milngavie since they were not asked to.Specifically, the OJEC notice for this project (issued in December 1999) states the following:(a) The contract is likely to include for project development as well as the design, construction and commissioning of a potable water treatment facility with associated pumping station(s), storage tank(s) and pipelines. It is the authority's intention to enter into a partnering agreement with the successful tenderer.(b) It is intended that the initial award will include participation in the project development and option appraisal and will result in a full design with target completion costs. It is anticipated that the same tendering entity responsible for producing the design will be instructed to construct the works.(c) The purpose of the works is to upgrade the existing water supply to the greater Glasgow area in line with current and future UK and EU legislation relating to water quality.The tendering process adopted by West of Scotland Water was explained to Mr McNulty in reply to his letter of 15 November 2001.

Under the Security and Emergency Measures (Water and Sewerage Authorities) (Scotland) Direction 1998, water authorities are required to make, keep under review and revise plans to ensure the provision of essential water supplies and sewerage services. The existing plans provide for adequate security of chemicals and will be revised for the new works.The design, construction and operation of the new works will also need to comply with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999.During the design and construction of the works a full Hazard and Operability study will be also be undertaken. The current treatment facility is covered by detailed West of Scotland Water Emergency Planning and site-based emergency planning procedures in the event of emergency spillage's actually occurring. These plans will be fully revised in advance of the new works coming into operation.

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water (WoSW). The Chief Executive's response is as follows:The proposed new water treatment plant at Milngavie has been sized to meet expected demand over the foreseeable future. This has resulted in a 390 Ml/d demand which is being accommodated by utilising 150 Ml/d spare capacity at Balmore Water Treatment Works (WTW) and building a new 240Ml/d plant at Milngavie. Traditional ways of sizing treatment plants were to allow for treating 110% of the reliable yield of the catchment feeding the works. This methodology would have indicated a need for 490 Ml/d capacity, i.e. a new plant at Milngavie with 340 Ml/d capacity. Domestic demand is the product of population times the amount consumed per head. Projections show the supply population to be falling and recent thinking suggests per capita water consumption will be near static. The overall effect is expected to be marginally falling future demand. The GRO standard figures were used as a basis and these were modified through extensive additional consultation and consideration of WoSW historical data. Current water demands are available in the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Joint Structure Plan 2000 and also in the Scottish Office - Scottish Domestic Consumption Study. However, Katrine Water Project (KWP) and WoSW also undertook studies to establish Per Capita Consumption figures.Industrial and commercial demand is mainly through metered supplies so we have reliable figures for this element. No allowance has been made for future increases in commercial demand. One aspect of the supply volume which we can influence is leakage. There is an overall target for reduction in leakage of between 50 and 70 Ml/d for the whole Glasgow network. This has been determined as the economic level of leakage after extensive studies by RPS Limited. The target for the areas directly supplied by Milngavie WTW is 43 Ml/d. This has been taken into account in determining the level of supply required from the Katrine Water Project. It should also be noted that demand is not constant and there are considerable seasonal and daily variations. Short-term peaks frequently occur and the whole system has to be capable of maintaining supply under all conditions short of the most catastrophic of incidents. To size the new works to accommodate short-term peaks would necessitate building a larger plant. As an alternative, treated water reservoirs are used to attenuate the short-term peaks in demand. The sizing of the new plant is a carefully calculated balance between treatment capacity of the plant and the storage capacity of the reservoirs.

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water. The Chief Executive's response is as follows:Further to the answer given to question S1W-22092 on 4 December 2002, and as described in Chapter 2 and in Annex D of the Environmental Statement submitted with the planning application, the criteria utilised in the identification of the best overall project option for the Katrine Water Project are as follows:

1. Environmental
Impacts on peopleImpact on residentsImpact on commercial or other propertyImpact on recreation facilities and other community land usesImpact of construction trafficVisual impactSeverance and disruptionImpacts on the natural environment and cultural heritageImpact on agricultural resources and farmingRisk from ground contaminationImpact on aquatic environmentImpact on ecological resourcesImpact on landscape resourcesImpact on historic and cultural resourcesImpacts on resources/ Global climate impactEnergy consumption and CO₂ emissions in operation
2. Technical
Ground conditionsGroundwater problemsGeotechnical problemsLand availabilityTemporary land requirementsPermanent land requirementsAccessibilityOwnershipTopographySuitability of site topographyAvailability of servicesAccessibility of utilitiesImpact on existing utilitiesEffluent disposalOverflow disposalEase of connectionRaw water transferTreated water transfer
3. Financial

Capital costRelative cost of construction in £ million at 2001 prices Operating costIndicative relative costs of operationNet Present Cost Whole life cost in £ million at 2001 prices including capital and operating costs NPV annualised over the whole lifetime of the works 40 years at 6% discount rateRiskEstimate of the level of risk (uncertainty) attached to the cost estimates based on possible events that might impact on costs (delay, technical problems, etc).

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water. The Chief Executive's response is as follows:It would not be practical to place an electronic copy of the full Environmental Statement from the planning application for the Katrine Water Project on the authority's website as it has a file size of over 156 megabytes. This is a very large file, being 500 times the size of the current Water Bill on the Scottish Parliament's website. In practise, if it were put on the authority's website it would overload the system. To download this file with a high speed ISDN line could take an hour, and with a standard modem over a phone line connection it could take 10 hours. As the Environmental Statement is only one part of the planning application then, it could be reasoned, that the whole planning application should be made available electronically. The planning application comprises files totalling 347 MB.

The calling pattern on any railway route is a commercial matter for the train operating company within the context of its contracted Passenger Service Requirements.